Monkey Mountain benefits from $7M truck

Students in Monkey Mountain and surrounding communities in Region Eight would now be transported to school in a $7 million truck, which was recently purchased for the community.

The procurement of the truck was made possible through the $10 million one-off COVID-19 relief grant to the community.

Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai MP, said the Government remains committed to providing children with access to education. As such, when the need was brought to her attention by the village councillors, there was no hesitancy.

“I had spoken to the Toshao and village councillor about the need for transportation for the children and they told me that they have about 100 children that leave from this point.

I think they may have included Taruka and Tuseneng children and so our advice is that we were going to provide a truck for the area because of the terrain and so the truck in this period when school opens, is to transport the children at least part of the way,” Minister Sukhai said.

The truck will be managed and maintained by the village council, which the Minister hopes will be done effectively. She said this is one of the many initiatives the Government will implement to improve the lives of its citizens.

Toshao of Monkey Mountain, Lincoln Abraham Singh told DPI that when it is the rainy season, the children are affected since most of them walk to school.

To this end, he thanked the Government for making such a provision in the interest of the children.

“It is for the village, village wise, to first off transport our children to Paramakatoi Secondary and we also will be using it for hires and village work,”he said.

It was also disclosed that transportation arrangements will be made for other students, who reside much further than Monkey Mountain.

Minister Sukhai also handed over sport gear such as footballs, volleyballs, volleyball nets, among others to keep the youths engaged. The Minister recently visited the region along with Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony MP and Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall MP.